This paper reports our recent studies on nanocrystalline surface layer of 304 stainless steel (304SS) produced using a sandblasting and annea領(lǐng) process. The grain size of the sandblasted surface layer was less than 20 nm. Mechanical and electrochemical properties of the nanocrystalline surface and its passive film were investigated using nano/micro/-indentation, micro-scratch, scanning Kelvin probe (SKP), potentiodynamic scanning and electrochemical scratch techniques. It was demonstrated that the nanocrystalline surface was markedly superior to that of original 304SS with enhanced passive film.